I've used http://www.imdb.com to research films that are similar to my genre distributed by New Line Cinema and Blumhouse. The Prezi shows samples of various films distributed by companies as well as research on the distributing companies themselves.
Small Scale Companies Verses Mainstream
http://www.the-numbers.com/market/distributors - a list of distributing companies based on the market share
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures is a distributing motion picture company that distributestheatrical and non theatrical filmed entertainment. It is known for distributing various Academy Award winning films throughout the years such as: King Kong, A Beautiful Mind and The Pianist. Even though one of these award winning films are similar to my genre, this distributing company features all kinds of genres that are professionally done and have a good budget. For my trailer, It would be difficult to get my film distributed by a mainstream company such as Universal Pictures. If it did, on the other hand, my trailer would be provided with a lot of exposure giving it a lot more audience than it would with a less known distributing company. I have used http://www.universalpictures.co.uk/about-us#about which is an official website to find out more about this well known and successful company.
Ketchup Entertainment
By comparing the charts of these two companies, Universal Pictures is clearly more successful with each film grossing more than $214,000,000. On the other hand, "Ketchup Entertainment" which is barely known by most people received a maximum of $36,746 with most of its films gaining no gross at all since they only films since 2013. Other than Gross, Ketchup Entertainment features different genres ranging from Drama to Horror and Documentary. However, small distribution companies are a stepping hand for small budgeted films made by new producers. Companies such as Ketchup Entertainment will not bring any additional exposure apart from viewers of successful films that have been released by the distributing company. Since they are barely known, less people will see it and less can be made, working with a small budget any profit that exceeds the "Break Even" is considered a success.
Working with a low budget, I believe that it would be more realistic being distributed by a smaller and a less known distributing company. Therefore, my trailer will feature something more small scale rather than mainstream even though mainstream companies are more successful.
Plot
My trailer is a Psychological Thriller. This involves an 'inner' force such as a strange mental illness to affect the protagonist. This film is based on mystery, to question whether the ordeal was real or something the mind has created. The reason why Psychological Thriller appeal to the audience is because it is possible to hallucinate and it's possible to experience the fear and anxiety that comes with it in real life. This type of film could be considered a horror film but it does not involve cheap jump scares throughout the trailer/film, instead it is focused on the protagonist and their way of dealing with this internal force.
I want my audience to feel attached to the character, therefore I will make her as relatable to my target audience as possible at the beginning of the trailer. However, as the trailer progresses, the protagonist will lose her sense and become completely consumed in her illness. The trailer will be shown from point of view of the protagonist with the illness, suggesting that the hallucinations will also be shown in the trailers (such as strange locations and creatures). Unlike a lot of Psychological Thriller the main character has a healthy mind, he or she is trying to rescue or figure out the person that is causing a distress. On the other hand, my trailer will be completely focused from the eyes of a character that suffers. The trailer will be depressingly themed. If this trailer would be a film, the ending would not be satisfactory.
The main character has symptoms of Psychosis and Schizophrenia which I will likely not mention the names of these illnesses in order to avoid controversy and miss representation of the mentally ill. I want to represent the character as a person with pure and innocent thoughts at the beginning of the trailer, this is why I am planning to choose a female as a protagonist because females are stereotyped to be non-violent, happy and friendly, which is a polar opposite of the 'true' nature of the protagonist. In order to make the main character look innocent, she will play the piano, act friendly towards animals (?) and/or walk in the field. Her 'perceived' personality will change mid way throughout the trailer showcasing her psychosis using abstract scenes such as skin peeling, hysteria in scary locations and visions of monsters. The trailer will likely have 2 more supporting characters, a Therapist and a Friend to add context to the story. The protagonist will refuse prescribed medication, making her symptoms worsen to the point of total insanity.
Potential Film Titles:
Not Delirious + 0
The Fatal Fissure +1
The Mortal Harrowing +2
The Faultless Fraud +1
Meaning -
Not Delirious : Delirious means "in an acutely disturbed state of mind characterised by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence; affected by delirium." I've decided to add the word "Not" to create doubt making the audience question is the character disturbed or not.
The Fatal Fissure: Fissure means "a state of incompatibility or disagreement." Fatal means 'deadly'. This suggests that there isn't any chance for the protagonist to change. The Mortal Harrowing: In other words, this sentence means "The Fatal Distress". The Faultless Fraud: Faultless can also mean 'guiltless' or innocent, the word 'fraud' means when a person or thing is intending to deceive others, typically by being credited from accomplishments of others. This title seems to be an oxymoron.
Characters:
Ann - Main character (Suffers from hallucinations and abusive voices, dellusional)
Heather - Therapist (Offers help and medicine, Ann refuses)
Caytlin - Friend (this character is making the situation worse by not trying to understand Anne)
Unfortunately, right now I haven't confirmed what actors will be cast in the trailer. Since I want my trailer to look professional, I need good acting skills. Therefore, I will ask people that do drama as an A level to act for my trailer in order to increase the production quality at maximum whist keeping the budget low.
Sound Effects
I've decided to add my own music as I create soundtracks as a hobby, I am planning to make a trailer sound track using a PC programme which is completely Royalty Free. Based on my trailer research, I've decided to start the trailer off using calm scenes, therefore a calm music would be appropriate. After some time, the trailer will build up tension and have shorter cut scenes making it pace up. This means that the soundtrack will be calm at first and 'insane' afterwards. Making hand made music gives me more freedom to produce the trailer, making it fit with the soundtrack quite well.
At the start of the trailer I want the protagonist to play the piano, I will record piano notes on a real piano in order to link to the soundtrack and make the viewers feel calm. I will combine it with hand made sound track in order to make it more interesting.
During the fast paces part of the trailer I will avoid using "BRAAAAM" sound effects in order to build up tension because they are overused and do not create the same outcome as it did when it was original. Instead, I am planning to use drum beats to make the trailer thrilling when it needs to be. The start of the trailer will be used for dialogue, whereas the end of the trailer will be used for action, appropriate music needs to fit the two distinct parts.
I will record or obtain minimal sound effects such as rustling or glass breaking to give my trailer more 'depth' and a better quality.
I've already obtained rough 'samples' for my trailer as seen in the example on the left hand side.
This is a composed idea for the piano part. I thought that the melody should be simple yet emotional and creepy, something that my cast member could learn and play easily. My planning works quite well considering the outcome of this sample. We agree that we like this type of melody.
The chords of the piano melody:
Visual Effects
I will attempt to plan each scene artistically using some compositional rules I've learned in A level Photography, since the cinematography will increase the quality of the film/trailer. Additionally, I will use different filters to set a particular mood. For example, yellow vibrant filter to make the mood happy, desaturated dark filter to make the mood scary/depressing.
I might use special effects to create particular scenes (such as a closed scene) using layer masking. Pinterest
I've created a Pinterest account to get inspired and obtain more ideas for the trailer ( https://uk.pinterest.com/10dmalina/-/). The keywords were: Skitzophrenia, Psychosis, Psychology, Thriller, Monster. This is a moodborad.
The moodpboard helped me understand the theme I am going for and gave me some inspirations for the film poster. These images show horror and mental illness visually using various techniques such as long exposure and abstract ideas.
Based on these magazine covers that inspire me, I am planning to do either a headshot or a half body shot. I will use complimenting colours in order to make the magazine cover visually appealing. Additionally, I will place the image above the Masthead and place more important cover line stories on the right hand side because that is the side people usually start reading from. Moreover, I want my character to have a similar expression to "Harry Potter" (from the magazine I find inspiring) because it would match with her personality and make her appear more mysterious. I will base the colour palette of the magazine by emphasising it around the character's eye colour, in order to make her 'pop out' (similarly to the Harry Potter front cover). For the film cover, I will not make it look as 'depressing' as the film poster because I want to use vibrant colours for the font in order to gain as much attention and not give away too much of the story line. Featuring my main character on the cover will likely help build a fan base based on the actress which will transfer to the trailer. Additionally, I will try to get as many customers by featuring an 'advertisement' on the magazine cover such as: free CD cover or win free tickets to cinema. This will bring me more audience because rewarding customers for buying a magazine will increase the sales.
Based on this research, I am certain that I will do a portrait poster because most Psychological Thrillers use portrait shots, it is also one of the most common used types. However, I do want to make it original yet abstract. My idea is to do a long exposure photograph using flash, this means that I can capture movement and overlapping at the same time. Long exposure fits well with psychological genre based on my research on Pinterest as it can show confusement and emotion. I will either use depressing colours such as a blue or angry colours such as red, I could also make the image black and white to show 'lack of emotions'. My title will be placed at the bottom of the poster and I will most likely write a tag line that will be aiming towards the audience. I want to make sure my poster matches with the genre and gives a clear idea of the plot to the target audience. Not to mention, I will feature cast names and producor names.
Trailer Inspirations
I have chosen 4 trailers as my main inspirations for producing my own film trailer. Overall, there are elements I'd like to take from each trailer I am interested in. For example, I will attepmt to replicate the style of cinematography in "Anticrist" trailer and possibly add sime visual cues to develop a story without giving it away in order to make it successful like the "Black Swan" trailer. I want to make my trailer as thrilling as "Jacob's Ladder", for this trailer I found that his hallucinations were an interesting way to show his mental illness making the audience question what parts of the film trailer were real and what parts were not. Additionally, none of these trailers used jump-scares to release some tension which I believe is a cheap tactic to scare the viewers, I think that films can be scary without 'scare jumps' depending on the plot. Therefore, I am not planning to use any sudden scenes where the monster pops up and scares the audience. For the monster, I am planning to show him by making him appear gradually from the dark giving a visual cue to the audience. Additionally, I like the costume of the protagonist from "Antichrist". It is a simple dress with a pattern which stereotypes with an innocent girl but the protagonist is a complete opposite, I am planning to use a dress as an outfit for my protagonist.
Other inspiration
Mr.Robot (TV Series)
What makes this series interesting is the strange behaviour of the protagonist. His facial expressions always look blank and he mostly speaks in monotone, which is rather strange in a real situation. Everything about this protagonist is rather unique therefore the opportunity for character development gives this series a lot of audience. Additionally I liked the dialogue at 2:08 when a voice is asking the protagonist "Are you okay? You're not saying anything, what's wrong?" After a pause, the protagonist replies "Nothing."This is something I could include at the beginning of my own trailer involving two characters such as the protagonist and the therapist.
'What have you learnt from your audience feedback?' SURVEY:https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3CZS828
Audience feedback is essential for a successful product. It is important because it allows me to find out whether the product was as I predicted or it was different. By gathering data, I can find out about my audience for this particular film and this information could be used for future similar products as target audience to predict the success of the future product. Not to mention, using the audience feedback gives the product more opportunities to improve and become more appealing to the fans. There are various methods to obtain audience feedback. These include:
'One on One' Interviews: collecting a large amount of data using interviews costs more money and time, however the feedback is more detailed resulting in a more open ended response.
Comments: As we live in the modern age of the Internet, trailers can obtain a lot of feedback from the comment section on popular video platforms such as 'YouTube' and 'Facebook'. Not to mention, using a video platform can reach a lot of audience increasing the profit of the product as the clips can generate millions of views. Additionally, uploading a clip on youtube advertises the product and the producer could receive additional money for adds placed before the video from the social network.
Questionnaires: Internet surveys are a popular tool to evaluate a product. Many organizations obtain a large about of audience feedback. The reason why internet questionnaires are popular is because the data is automatically shown after a person fills out the questionnaire. Moreover, producing an internet questionnaire is easy to make, cheap and/or free resulting in no money or time wasted. Online tests, for example, are useful because the audience are anonymous which means they are more likely give an honest answer.
Test Screenings: The majority of produced film products 'test screen' before making their film available for the majority of the public. This means that a preview of the film is shown to a selection of people to record their reactions and feedback. The feedback is then analysed and edited according to the suggestions/complaints. However, test screenings sample a small amount of audience meaning that more than one platform of feedback is needed to obtain accurate results.
Questions & Answers: These usually apply in film conventions and film festivals, a place where people with the same interest of films gather. The viewers could ask questions and obtain answers from the producers in these particular places.
I created an online questionnaire made up from 10 distinct questions in order to gather information for my trailer using a well known website called the 'SurveyMonkey'. The reason being is because it is free easy to spread around through social media, gather a larger amount of people and gathers information through graphs instantaneously. The answers are more likely going to turn out honest because the questionnaire reserves the anonymity of the person answering the questions.
Question 1: The majority of my audience is aged from 18 to 24 years old. This means that my prediction was not wrong as I thought that the majority of my audience will be young adults.
Question 2:
There are various types of mediums to advertise a film besides a trailer. Using a bigger variety to advertise the film will increase the audience and maximize the potential reach. There are different ways to advertise, for example, promoting the film through a poster or a magazine because audiences could have a preference on what type of media they would more likely to use. For instance, a potential consumer could prefer reading a magazine to watching television or vice versa. Additionally, using different approaches to advertisement makes it easier to predict the 'wants' of potential target audience. For example, with magazines, it's possible to get information about the audience based on what type of audience bought the magazine and it's also possible to find out the location the magazines were bought in.
Additionally, advertising using other methods provides different opportunities, advantages and disadvantages. In magazines, the film producers can express themselves by featuring beautiful visuals of scenes in the movie (cinematography) or and feature key characters that will play a large role in the film, the key characters are also effective to gain a larger audience since a lot of experienced actors have a big ban base, therefore their appearance in the film will bring more customers. Not to mention, advertisements of films come with detailed 'articles' further explaining the assets of the production and the film itself. Sometimes, there are interviews based on the film being featured giving 'exclusive' information a trailer wouldn't mention. I will explain how the magazines below could appeal to their audiences.
The double spread on the left is a magazine from "Empire" a well known and one of the most popular film magazines. The double spread features "Star Trek" which can clearly be seen by looking at the iconic characters that appear in the film. The image is mainly placed on the left page and ends in the middle of the right page. The remaining space is filled with two columns of text and a title "Star Trek Into Darkness". The colour palette of the photograph is mainly blue, therefore the text on the image is at a similar colour in order to match with the overall colour palette. The text on the right briefly explains and talks about the relevant topic which is Star Trek in detail. This type of information would not be available on a trailer because a trailer needs to be roughly three minutes long, therefore producing a magazine is useful for additional information. Not to mention producing this double spread most likely took less time, money and effort than the trailer itself, yet it provides a lot of audience.
The second double spread of a film called "The Hobbit" located in a magazine called "Total Film". Another extremely popular film magazine. This time, the magazine is placed on the top part almost spreading through the whole two pages leaving space for 1 column on the right hand side. Mostly, the text appears on the bottom of the magazine page (on both sides). The main image is a shot which shows good cinematography and colours (mostly vibrant warm tones). It also shown the main character surrounded by other characters that have an important role in the film. Additionally, on the bottom right, another extremely well known character "Gandalf" is shown. Showcasing characters that play part in the film will bring in the audience since they are well known. The main colour palette of this double spread is brown which matches well with the main image. Since this particular brown is technically a desaturated red, the green book pops out and looks a lot more noticeable. The text itself is a detailed explanation of misconceptions and facts of the film. For example on page 72, it states that "The Hobbit" wasn't produced or aimed at children.
Overall, double spreads are not only used for advertising but also for a clear description and an honest 'review' of the film without ruining the plot for a potential viewer. Using this as another platform to advertise gets film producers a lot more audience; particularly audience that like films since they are buying a film magazine. This means that it is easier to obtain general knowledge of potential consumers which provides a larger fan base for the film.
Besides producing the trailer, I will also make a magazine cover for my film. In order for it to be appealing, I have conducted some research into three different and existing film magazine layouts and conventions. These include: Empire, Total Film and Sight & Sound.
How could these film magazines impact my own work?
In terms of layout, the magazine that stood out to me was "Total Film" because of the unusual and unique organisation of font and especially cover lines. The magazine looks busy and it features a lot of visuals which brings in audience from various fan bases. The magazine clearly states what type of content it will feature whilst making the design organised and eye-catching. Every "Total Film" magazine seems to have 'exclusive content' which suggests that it is a good value for money. Therefore, in my magazine, I might feature something exclusive or such as free promotional posters, concert tickets or an interesting story. Based on this magazine, I might also use these types of cover lines as it is is visually appealing. Like the "Empire" magazine, I will place my main image above the Masthead as it seems effective and visually intriguing. This technique will make the character pop out. Making the masthead relevant to the genre similar to "Sight & Sound and Total Film" will provide me with more audience because it is clear what the magazine will contain.
Unfortunately, since my budget is limited, I will not use well known actors in my poster. This means that there will not be any star appeal. In order to capture as much attention as possible, I will attempt to make the main image as interesting as possible and feature the films and casts name on my main sell line as a brand new film that will make the audience curious and increase the chances of this magazine being bought. For instance, I will make sure the image relates to the film genre and the target audience by using a dark colour palette and possibly some props.
There are various ways posters are composed, posters with good composition are appealing at first glance, which is quite important in order to gain a larger amount of audience. I will be analyzing the composition of various 'different' looking posters to see what kind of 'composition' would suit my future poster.
Close up/ extreme close up is a popular poster technique because it allows the viewers to feel more personal towards the character. However, using a face does not explain a lot about the plot unless it looks different in some way or another (more original). For example, there are different kinds of close up face posters that do in fact, tell something about the film. For example, a film called "One Missed Call" features a close up of a person's face speaking on the phone, but its eyes are replaced by screaming mouths using Photoshop. Unlike "Bearded Borat", there are various ways to make a close up unique, related to the genre/plot and/or personal. In this example, the main character is facing the camera with a simple expression wearing sun glasses that have an american flag photo-shopped onto it. Since this person has sun glasses, it makes it more difficult to feel personal or relate to the character since a lot of his face is hidden. I believe that the creators wanted to emphasize his beard and hair because that what makes this character unique. His beard also matches with the film's title.
Other close up types include; two person close up (romantic), two person close up and three person.
Z, ∆, O, X - Composition
Using simple shapes to lead the eye is a successful technique to composition, every 'shape' has its benefits. Most of these shapes are usually used for action films as there could be a lot going on within the poster. For example, shape 'Z' leads the eye from the top to the bottom using text and a 'line' leading to the second part of the text usually featuring the character and also giving hints about the plot. In this case, the poster for "THOR: The Dark World" features the protagonist as well as supporting roles in the background which are arranged in such a way that creates a steep line that leads towards the title of the film. "Krrisa 3" is a great example of an '' shape composition. It resembles that shape because of the protagonist's pose (and his cloak that further Finally, an 'X' shape creates a sense of stability (similarly to the triangle shape) because its symmetrical and displays the amount of detail equally on the poster. For example "Guardian of Galaxy" poster creates this shape by pointing into 4 different directions using action/dynamic lines or poses. Rule of Thirds Layout
"Rule of Thirds" technique is a basic composition rule in any photograph. Placing objects on the horizontal and vertical lines creates an organised and simple look which is easy on the eye. Mostly, the points where both horizontal and vertical lines meet are one of the most important points for placement. For example in the "Ted" poster both vertical and horizontal lines are placed perfectly between the characters and the film title and the points focus on these particular aspects as well. For this type of composition it is useful to have posters that have a simplistic style, which could be divided into simple shapes in order for this technique to be more visible. Horizon posters can also use this composition technique and place the horizon on the bottom line of the "Rule of Thirds". This type of composition are in particularly popular with comedy films as it usually features a lighthearted duo and bold text with vibrant colours. Posters like "Mr. Right" and "Dumb and Dumber" also seem to use this particular technique for their films. Overall, "Rule of Thirds" keeps the image balanced and prevents it from looking disorganized, it is easy to use and is effective meaning that it's extremely widely used by photographers and photo editors. Horizon Layout
A horizon poster is when a horizontal line cuts through the image (mostly used in posters with an environment).This type of visual technique gives the viewers a sense of perspective which makes them feel as if they are in the scene. It is also an effective way to divide the poster into several shapes using lines and contrast. Therefore, the film title can be seen below the horizon line most of the time. For this poster in particular (Inception) the poster is divided into 3 vertical lines and one horizontal line. The middle shape that the 3 vertical lines create are great for character placement as it creates symmetry and the bottom shape that is created by the horizontal line is a great place for text as it provides a solid and a simple base with no shape distraction. Grid Layout
Grid layout posters seem to be quite organised and unique. However, there is usually a reason for this type of layout as it should match with the film's context. In this case, a lot of different people are in each square image making it look like a family album. The film's title is "The perfect Family" therefore that statement would make sense. However, each square photograph is quite individual giving the viewers a glimpse of the story, for example some of those people seem unhappy such as the top left photograph. This emotion doesn't quite fit with the film's title suggesting it might not be the 'perfect' family after all. In other words, Drama, Mystery and Family films are likely to use this composition technique for their posters even though it's not that widely used in the film industry.
Is it important to follow the expectations or break away from them?
After my thorough investigation into each of these compositions, I have come to realize that there is a thought out pattern in most modern posters. Each technique seems to be successful in order to gain attention from the audience and make the poster visually appealing overall. However, some posters seem to be too similar as if they are copying each and every previously made poster taking away the creativity and originality for profit and time consumption. Perhaps, following conventions too much will lead to copying a previously made posters which is not wanted by the public as people generally dislike remakes.
I believe it is still important to follow composition rules but I would personally stay away from widely used types such as 'blue against orange' or 'female dragging man by the tie' types. Since most thriller posters use 'close up', I will likely to use it too but I will make sure it doesn't seem copied by anything in order to keep the originality and my audience interested as most of my audience are aware of the repetition used by the film industry. I will most definitely follow some aspects of design as most thriller films use dark colours as it fits with the genre, if I would have used 'happy' colours, It would deceive the audience into thinking that it's a different type of genre which might cause a bad feedback. I will also possibly use the "Rule of Thirds" as it's an effective way to organize text and image simultaneously.
To support my statement about poster repetition, I've found a video on YouTube covering the similarities in layout, composition and colour scheme. For example, the protagonist facing it's torso away from the audience while looking back pose or female legs spread across the poster with a group of people standing in the distance (in between of the placed legs). Colour scheme "Blue and Orange" is also shown in the video, it's a colour combination my poster should most definitely avoid.
Teaser posters more often than not, are simplified versions of Theatrical posters giving less information usually only including release date, title, tag line or a simple 'coming soon' text. These types of posters are produced early during marketing stage, therefore not a lot of information can be provided. Teaser posters are useful for building an audience before the release date of the film and during early production stages. On the other hand, Theatrical posters will include a lot more because they are produced after some production stages. Therefore, things like the director names, cast names and even some hints that could take place in the film are featured on the second poster. I will be analyzing a Teaser and A Theatrical poster of one film called "The Dark Knight Rises" to understand the differences clearly.
The first poster is a Teaser poster which can be clearly seen by its simplicity. It is quite recognizable that the drawing on the wall symbolizes a villain in the film and the protagonist. The dark circles and a red smiling mouth on the wall reminds the viewers of the "Joker" because his characteristics match with the drawing. Not to mention, the 'smile' is a silhouette of Batman's logo. This suggests that the film will be Batman fighting against the Joker. Additionally, there is a tag line at the top of the poster which asks viewers a question "Why so serious?" This is a popular catchphrase of the villain and is extremely recognizable by people who follow the comics and/or know Batman stories in general. The colour palette is overall, blue. Additionally, the title of the film is at the bottom in big capital letters and the date of the release is below the title. Other than those, the viewers receive no additional information about directors, exact release date or cast member names. However, due to an established (DC Publishing Company) franchise already, the viewers had more than enough information about the film and it's content at the time because a lot of existing content from Batman or Joker was written either in the comics or shown on previous films.
The second poster is a Theatrical poster which looks a lot more professional than the first Teaser poster. This poster features the protagonist, which is batman and his logo in the background. The colour scheme is blue against orange which makes the poster stand out due to them being complimentary colours. The poster also has a tagline which is at the top of the image, it states "Welcome to a world without rules" which is also directed towards the audience. Additionally, cast member names are clearly shown below Batman with their surnames slightly bigger than their names. Moreover, the title of the film has the same font as the Teaser, but it also has special effects added to it which is again, the Batman logo. Lastly, the date of the film release is confirmed because it is stating the day and the month rather than the year unlike the Teaser poster. The poster is a lot more professional looking because the film needs to state that it's a high budget film to their audience, therefore they add a lot of special effects to the poster such as the building fire, clouds and flying scraps of metal to show destruction and a chaotic part of the film. The poster also has a high perspective to show batman from the bottom (which suggests that he is an important character because the audience 'look up' at him) and the building is seen in full length.
In this particular post, I will be investigating different methods of advertising film. I will be focusing on the position of the posters, designs, layout and sizes. This will help me understand how it affects marketing and what format would be best to use for my own poster. I will be discussing advantages and disadvantages for various film adverts shown to the audience below:
Temptation (2013)
The poster features two images in one overlaid on top of each other. One of them is a lustful image (close up) of a woman wearing a lipstick biting her lips. The other image looks threatening because it shows a man with a dangerous weapon concealing his face. The text states "Seduction is the devil's playground" and "Confessions of a Marriage Counselor" which are clues about the film's plot. There is a big font saying "In Theaters March 29" which makes it clear that it is a film.
Magazine
The Hobbit an Unexpected Journey (2012)
The film is featured on the front cover of a magazine called "Empire" which is a monthly magazine. Empires circulation is 145,117. The "Hobbit" and "Empire" are two of the largest texts in the magazine. The main image is also the film's protagonist followed by another well known character on the left hand side.
I've researched the audience of this particular magazine using the yougov website https://yougov.co.uk/ (a market research company). I found out that the audience who read this magazine are around 25 to 39 years old and are mostly males. These audiences are mainly from London but their social grades are ABC1 which are of a higher status of employ-ability. Their other main magazine to read is "Total Film" which is another extremely well known film magazine.
Billboard
The Expendables 3 (2014)
The poster features all of the characters cut out of the poster making it seem like they are actually real people sitting on the billboard, which captures a lot of attention. The title has the biggest font followed by the date of the release. The billboard seems to be quite simple yet easy to notice. It seems that the billboard is placed in the residential area where there are a lot of people judging by the building at the bottom of the photograph. This suggests that not only the cars could see it but pedestrians as well.
Example of Sizes: Bus Posters
T-side posters are quite popular throughout England because they are used on a public transport. moving the poster across various locations providing a lot of viewers from pedestrians, car drivers and bus passengers themselves. The poster size is relatively large and can be read easily from a small distance (such as the other side of the street). Not to mention, London buses specifically, are quite famous for being red and large making them quite eye -catching for tourists in particular.
Quad Film Posters
Quad film posters are relatively of an average size which is 30 by 40 inches, or 762 by 1020 mm. One Sheet Posters
These are also quite average and most recognizable, UK average sizes are 27 by 40 inches, or 686 x 1020 mm.
There are various purposes for poster, the poster encourages people to look at the trailer and informs them about the film's existence. A good poster is placed in a good location based on where the target audience would most likely be, the poster also needs to be eye-catching ,therefore many posters (especially Action movie posters) use orange and blue contrasting colors in order to 'pop out'. In this post, I will be investigating how certain aspects of the posters were used to appeal to the audience.
Iconography- The visual codes often associated with a particular genre. Engima Codes- A narrative code that creates intrigue . Action Codes- A narrative code that suggests what might happen in the film's story. Key Image- The main image that often suggests the narrative films. Language and mode of address- The was in which the text speaks to its reader, often persuasive and direct or inclusive. Tag line- The film's slogan which is memorable. Star names- These draw audiences to a film and are often linked to certain roles. Typography- The particular style of font, used as a form of branding.
I will be using various ways in order to attract my target audience to watch my film, for example: I will feature a slogan of the film somewhere in the poster or in the trailer in order to make it more memorable and eye catching. I will also be following the Enigma code as I believe that 'Mystery' suits psychological thrillers better than action. I will be analyzing three posters to know better about design decisions and how it impacts the audience. Film companies have to use various methods in order to achieve an appeal and build up the target audience. These methods can be summarized into four categories which are; layout and design/technical codes, familiarity and novelty, language and mode of address and finally, cast of films such as stars and celebrities.
What is Target Audience? Demographic Factors: Age: This indicates the appropriate content, for example, people under 18 cannot see some types of content because they are not classified as adults yet. Gender: Different genders are usually drawn to different content and themes. For example, romance films are usually focused on female audience whereas action films are focused on male audience. Sexual Orientation: viewers attitude towards different sexual orientation differs between person to person. Family life cycle: emotional and intellectual stages the person goes through as a family member affects the preference to films and film genres. Race: Particular races are drawn to different genres. Judging by (http://web.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/media3.html) Asians like Romance and Drama rather than Action. Level of Income: The income affects the likelihood of spending money on entertainment purposes such as a film. High income = more spending on entertainment. Education: People who like problem solving and mathematics could be drawn to problem solving film genres. Religion: A person's religion may affect their beliefs and moral values. Nationality: culture varies on the place the person was born.
Psychographic Factors: The personality including beliefs, interests and attitudes towards certain subjects. Geographic Factors: The nationality of the audience (place of birth) such as a city, country etc.
Considering the audience for a product is quite important in order to predict how appealing it would be to the consumers. However, assuming their needs and wants isn't always effective, it is important to have a general knowledge of the consumers by making a questionnaire and doing research. Knowing the target audience reduces the risk of failure, this means that it is possible to build a fan base before releasing the product which provides a rough knowledge of potential profit. Therefore, films have trailers as a way to advertise and build a fan base which benefits the production company. Psychological thrillers - Comparable profiles I decided to research some new release psychological thriller movies, to get a more up to date collection of results. I have used http://business.pearlanddean.com/films_guide to collect some demographic facts of audiences from these particular movies.
Film 1: Split (2017) The film will be released on the 20th of January in 2017. The film doesn't have an age rating yet but I assume it will be rated 15 or above due to violence and according to the results in the comparable profile from a previous film called 'Nightcrawler'. The table states that the majority of the audience will be males which could be due to genre and this particular story that has a slight 'horror' feel to it. It appears that the protagonist is a male due to the title of the film 'Split', it relates to his split personality disorder. The audience seem to be mostly in the middle and lower social classes.In the trailer, the characters seem to be in the middle class just like the predicted audience. Moreover, the film will have more 45+ audience than 35-44 by 2%, as the film also appeals to older audience as it is quite serious in some sense and features a well known actor. Overall, the reason why this film appeals to younger audience is because the audience are most likely thrill seeking.
There was no information on the 'Nightcrawler' comparable profile, therefore I've decided to use a comparable profile for a film called "Don't Breathe" released in 9th of September 2016. The comparable profile for "Don't Breathe" (Horror/Thriller) is using the results gained from a film called "House at the End of the Street". The film is expected to have more female audience rather than male audience (57% female). The class is distributed mainly around middle to higher class and the age range is mainly people aged 15 or more (51%) followed by audience aged 25 to 34 (24%). The main characters are teenagers, therefore the film should mostly appeal to young audience as it's more relatable. Additionally, the disturbing story line is more appealing to the younger generation than older generation due to the thrilling mood it gives to the audience. Jane Levy is on the film poster, and acts as a main character which could explain why females are more likely to watch the film - because the main character is a female, therefore is more relatable.
After finding out that "Don't Breathe" used "House at the End of the Street", I've decided to look at the comparable profile of that movie (which is also a horror and a thriller). "House at the End of the Street" used audience results from a horror films called "The Grudge 2". The results state that the audience were equally males as well as females (50% each). The classes were distributed almost equally, with C1 and C2 being the main classes. However, this comparable profile also has the majority of people aged 15 + as their main audience (58% were aged 15 to 24). The film's cast is Jennifer Lawrence, a well known actress. However, her being a female impacted the percentage of audience's gender (57% females watched the film) compared to the predicted 50% from "The Grudge 2" comparable profile.
Evidently, "The Grudge 2" predicted it's audience from their previously made film "The Grudge". However, there were more males watching the film rather than females (by 1%). Therefore, the gender was almost equal. "The Grudge 2" predicted their audience incredibly well because their film is based on a previous film which makes it easier for them to get a fan base and know about their audience. The class is also mainly C1, followed by DE suggesting that people in lower class were likely watch the film. On the other hand films with a big budget usually attract richer audience due to quality and the more expensive price.
The grudge conducted it's audience based on a film called "28 Days". Once again, the majority of the audience are male and the age varies mainly from 15 to 34 years old. Overall, comparable profiles are useful for predicting audience because it is mainly similar meaning that it's easier to get the idea of potential audience for the product. Knowing my audience, I could alter my product based on their needs or find out where it would be appropriate to place the advertisement.
How will this research affect my ideas?
Researching the comparable profiles for target audiences of various films helped me understand what my own target audience will most likely be based on the comparable profile results and the questionnaire I produced. Additionally, even though a lot of films are for both genres equally, the films I've researched mostly have males as their target audience, therefore I concluded that the percentage of males will be slightly bigger than the percentage of females in my trailer. I will assume that I will have 51% of males and 49% of females watching the film.
I predicted my 'typical' target audience by going on a website called:https://yougov.co.uk/profileslite#/
I analysed the audience of 3 films of my genre (American Psycho, Jacob's Ladder and Black Swan) to predict my target audience and their personalities.
For "Black Swan", the audience are mainly female because the main character is a female. It's plot revolves around ballerina dancing which is considered a girly sport. The main target audience also appears to be mostly young adults because this type of film is a psychological thriller and therefore is not considered for children due to its 'hard to understand' nature. The target audience appear intelligent because of the activities they are most likely to do which is reading a non-fiction book.
Jacob's Ladder target audience mainly consists of males who are more mature in terms of age. The protagonist is also a male and the main character is an adult. Therefore, the viewers relate more to the film. Moreover, the audience are older because this film is also a Psychological Thriller meaning that you need to be an adult to understand the plot correctly.
American Psycho's target audience are young adults and are mainly males. However, the gender is male unlike female in 'Black Swan'. The protagonist is a male and the plot consists of a wealthy business man having psychotic thoughts. This film is considered manly due to their careers, the film involves business suits and mistresses. The film also features music tapes which could appeal this group of audience because they are generally interested in music.
Finally, I created a mood-board/collage in order to get a clear idea of my target audience. I concluded various things based on the comparable profiles and the yougov website. The majority of comparable profiles and yougov profiles were male, therefore I've decided that my trailer will be targeted slightly more towards males rather than females even though the protagonist will be a female. I also decided the age range based on the genre and comparable profiles (as the age range always starts from young adults). On the right side of the image, I've got an average male with objects my target audience might enjoy such as boxing and burritos. Two out of three yougov profiles stated that they like cats, which suggests that my audience will be more drawn towards cats rather than dogs. Additionally, two out of three yougov profiles were shown that they are from South East region of the UK in cities like Brighton, Canterbury and Southampton. Other films (other than Black Swan, Jacob's Ladder and American Psycho) my audience would like are: Memoirs of Geisha, Fight Club, Rosemary's Baby and American Beauty.
